Synopses & Reviews
Dark Matter is the first and only series to bring together the works of black SF and fantasy writers. The first volume was published in Aspect hardcover in 7/00 and trade paperback in 7/01. It was featured in the New York Times, which named it a Notable Book of the Year, and the New York Daily News. The first volume of Dark Matter received glowing reviews from the New York Times, Washington Post Book World, Essence, Vibe, and Locus, among others, and won the prestigious World Fantasy Award for Best Anthology and the Gold Pen Award. It was an Alternate Selection of Black Expressions Book Club, Quality Paperback Book Club, and The Science Fiction Book Club. Sheree R. Thomas, a Cave Canem Fellow and Clarion West alum, is the founding editor of Anansi, a literary journal devoted to the African diaspora, and contributes to Upscale, Black Issues Book Review, Washington Post, QBR, and many online publications.
Review
"...provides an outlet for the high quality of creativity in the African American community and may help bring it to the attention of those who are not aware of it." SF Site
Review
"Reading the Bones illustrates the strength and diversity in the field of speculative fiction and makes us hope that many more volumes in the Dark Matter series are yet to come." BookPage
About the Author
Sheree Renée Thomas is an award-winning fiction writer, poet, and editor. Her work is inspired by myth and folklore, natural science and conjure, her roots in Memphis, and in the genius culture created in the Mississippi Delta. Sheree's stories and poetry explore ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances. She is the author of Sleeping Under the Tree of Life (Aqueduct Press), honored with a Publishers Weekly Starred Review and longlisted for the 2016 James Tiptree, Jr. Award, and of Shotgun Lullabies (2011), described as "a revelatory work like Jean Toomer's Cane." Thomas edited the two Dark Matter (Hachette) black speculative fiction volumes that first introduced W. E. B. Du Bois's work as science fiction, winning two World Fantasy Awards (2001, 2005). Her work appears in numerous anthologies and literary journals, including The Big Book of Modern Fantasy, Sycorax's Daughters, Do Not Go Quietly, So Long Been Dreaming: Postcolonial Science Fiction & Fantasy, Memphis Noir, Revise the Psalm: Work Celebrating the Writing of Gwendolyn Brooks, Afrofuturo(s), Ghost Fishing: Eco-Justice Poetry Anthology, The Ringing Ear, Apex Magazine, FIYAH Magazine, Callaloo, Fireside Quarterly, African Voices, Jalada, Strange Horizons, Blacktasticon, Mojo Rising: Contemporary Writers, Mojo: Conjure Stories, Stories for Chip: Tribute to Samuel R. Delany, 80! Memories and Reflections On Ursula K. Le Guin, and Harvard's Transition. She is the Associate Editor of Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora (Illinois State University, Normal), the Founding Editor of MOJO: Journal of the Black Speculative Arts Movement, and the co-editor of Trouble the Waters: Tales of the Deep Blue (Rosarium). Honored with fellowships from Bread Loaf Environmental, the Millay Colony of Arts, Smith College as The Lucille Geier-Lakes Writer in Residence, the New York Foundation of the Arts, VCCA, Cave Canem Foundation, and the Tennessee Arts Commission among others, Thomas's multigenre writing explores the hidden wonders in the invisible. Her stories have received Notable Mention in the Year's Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy and Honorable Mention in several volumes of the Year's Best Fantasy & Horror. Her editorial work uncovered a legacy of over a century of black science fiction writing and helped launch the careers of some of the most exciting new voices in the field. Nine Bar Blues from Third Man Books is Sheree's debut, all fiction collection. The stories encompass the heart, spirit, and music of the Mississippi Delta and of Memphis, Tennessee, where she was born and currently lives. Visit her on Facebook/Instagram @shereereneethomas Twitter @blackpotmojo